Voting Centers Open Until 7PM in Recall Elections

It’s election day for parts of El Paso and Pueblo Counties. State senators John Morse and Angela Giron are facing possible recalls. KRCC’s Liz Ruskin caught up with the El Paso County Clerk at Centennial Hall, where at mid-day, voter traffic was moving swiftly.

This is one of seven voting centers open today in Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs. Clerk Wayne Williams says turnout today has been lighter at times than last week, but he says there could be an after-work rush.

Everyone who is in line before 7pm will have the opportunity to vote. Right now, I’ve just been to five of the sites, there’s no line at any of them. And so we’d encourage folks to not all wait until 6:58 to do so, but if they are in line by 6:58 or 6:59, they will get the chance to vote.

Williams says he expects to have 95% of the tally completed tonight, although more than 600 overseas voters have until next week to get their ballots in. 

KRCC's Shanna Lewis reports more than 30,000 Puebloans had voted by mid-afternoon today.  

Both supporters and opponents of the recalls were working hard to get people to the polls, since mail ballots were not sent out automatically. Pueblo County Clerk Gilbert Ortiz says voting turnout has been steady since the polls opened on August 30th. More than 30% of registered voters had cast ballots by this afternoon. 

The turnout is great for a polling place election, but it’s not where we want to be. We’d want to be at 50 percent.

Eleven polling places around Pueblo and Pueblo West are open until 7pm tonight.

For polling locations in El Paso County, click here.For polling locations in Pueblo, click here.